AGFA 1000RS - to be exposed until Mai 1993 - AND NOW?

I have got three rolls (120) of Agfachrome 1000RS film, all expired

on Mai 1993. You remember, the film is the MOTHER OF GRAIN. I would

like to get some information on the film speed setting, (ISO 1000 or

less due to the age) color shift and any other information on expsure

of expired slide films.

That's not a lot of rolls to get a measure of this lot of film. I've had some experience with older Kodak 2475 Recording film.

 

You will have a lot of base fog. Cosmic rays have been exposing your film.

 

Film speed could easily be two stops slower. I've used Ilford Delta 3200 that was about 18 months old, and it clearly wasn't up to speed anymore. I shoot my 2475 at ISO 200 these days.

John is right for B/W negative films, to get a usable image over the fog base one need to expose above it and print with a contrasty paper for the top end of the negative.

 

But not for slide films it's the opposite; the fog will lighten overall the image but mostly the blacks and dark area to the point of been washout in the worst case, ex. completely pale blue slide.

 

So underexpose your outdated slide films to compensate for the fog, (like if a fresh film was pre-flash) then do a clip test and process probably minus, the slide will be very flat, you will need to increase contrast on the scan unless you like the pastel tones.

 

Still you should be able to keep most of the grain.<div></div>

Think of it this way- as a fine wine left undisturbed for years... but uncorked.

I like playing with 10y-old color films, be it print or slide, to get some interesting color renditions. Usually, you can divide the original sensibility by 4 (ASA scale; -6 in DIN scale). Agfachrome 1000RS exposed like a 250ASA film looks great, still very grainy and not under- nor overexposed. Similarly, Agfacolor Optima 125 exposed like a 32ASA film gives beautiful colors. They are quite saturated, by instead of getting almost black skies (as with current saturated films), the sky looks cyan, soft in tone but strong in color intensity (see the attached picture, taken just a few weeks ago). This rule of 10 years => ASA/4 (for color only) is very personal, but I always find that it works great.<div></div>